Favorites May 1 2021

I promise there’s lighter stuff once you get past the news about India.

zeynep tufekci @zeynep

This is important. The fatality rate is not fixed, it's a function of medical care. The calamitous exponential growth in India combined with collapse of even basic resources is a humanitarian catastrophe. It's so horrible that I can't think clearly about it.

Vincent Rajkumar @VincentRK

@zeynep It's unimaginable. India is showing the true of face of what uncontrolled COVID is capable of doing. So many young people are dying because hospitals are overwhelmed. It's extremely tragic when we lose people who could have been easily saved with just oxygen and dexamethasone.

We don't talk much about it, but we really did 'crush the curve' in the US, in the sense that we managed to keep our hospitals from being totally overloaded.

M.G. Siegler @mgsiegler

Wild, sad new chart from @nytimes nytimes.com/interactive/20…

Again, things lookin real bad in India. Also remember that deaths lag case counts.

Mika McKinnon @mikamckinnon

The mechanics behind rogue waves (/monster waves/sneaker waves/freak waves) are absolutely fascinating. But the consequences of rogue waves are frequently tragic. Never turn your back on the ocean.

Cian Dawson 🏳️‍🌈 @cbdawson

So many incidents in such a sort period. These stories are devastating. Don’t turn your back on the water. Water is powerful and unforgiving. I’m not going to RT the original article because it’s a long discussion of the death of a child. https://t.co/TqjtBcguhY

Yikes, and here I am avoiding the water because I can't stop thinking about sharks

Alan Zucconi @AlanZucconi

1⃣ "Internal Combustion Engine" by @BCiechanowski ciechanow.ski/internal-combu…

Really cool set of animations, highly recommended. The details about how the oil gets where it needs to be were new to me.

Nick Martin @nickmartin

Holy moly. This is the fringiest of the fringe. QAnon cult members have claimed for months that Donald Trump secretly watermarked ballots to catch Democrats doing fraud. Now an official with the Arizona election "audit" says they're using UV lights to LOOK FOR THE WATERMARKS.

What a debacle, genuine crazy people doing the Arizona election audit

Will McCrabb @mccrabb_will

It's Wes Anderson's birthday and here's the amazing way he recorded the voices for The Fantastic Mr. Fox

Pretty sure this isn't how they normally record audio for animated films. (Here’s the final version of the scene with Bill Murray)

Brett Berson @brettberson

From the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting - top 20 companies in the world today vs. 30 years ago. Amazing what can happen in just 30 years.

Hey look, France got one on the leaderboard, also in the same Berkshire Hathaway meeting they said higher corporate taxes would be fine actually. They also took some time to point out that the constant use of bitcoin for extortion is probably bad, and ‘contrary to the interests of civilization’.

Chuck Wendig @ChuckWendig

Several boulders the size of several other boulders grow bolder and bolder until they boldly go where no other boulder has been bowled before. https://t.co/2LSTH35kTn

CTV News @CTVNews

Boulders block Boulder Canyon road near Boulder, Colorado, Boulder County Sheriff's Office says https://t.co/uuT1RgsomJ https://t.co/sqCSolILqW

Buffallo buffallo buffallo buffallo.

Disco Gnome @MrCrystalMighty

Schooled

I suspect I'd have trouble making something seaworthy *with* power tools, it feels like driftwood and twine isn't gonna cut it in the real world.